hello, all! I'm going back to gentoo after a while on windows and I had a couple questions. firstly, I have ~25 gb of files that I want to transfer with me by having 2 partitions, the linux one and a storage partition to hold all my files while I convert my system. the storage partition is ntfs and the linux partition will be jfs.

1. is there a 100% reliable ntfs reading software for linux (there wasn't when I was last on gentoo some time ago)?
2. once I move all the files from the storage partition to the linux one and I delete the ntsc filesystem, will I be able to merge the 2 partitions into 1 without losing data (I guess this would be called extending the jfs partition)?

1) ntfs reading has been reliable for a long time, at least since 2002 when i first used it. Or so i thought. ... but it is absolutely 100% reliable at reading now.

2) I don't have any idea whether 'extending ' the partition is possible, but you may be able to with a partition manager. just back up your data!!! of course, at that point you may as well backup, wipe, and repartition fresh.

3) does jfs have any recovery utilities? As i recall, not really. You may want to go with something a little less enterprise-level, that doesn't want to be on a UPS and never go down, or else go down and then be rebuilt by the other drives on your raid. I highly recommend reiser, if not then xfs as they are faster than ext3. And if the unspeakable should happen, i know reiaser can rebuild the tree and save lots of data. I have never had a problem with it, and only once did i ever have to rebuild my tree, it was my own damn fault, and reiser saved my data and my computer. yay, reiser!_________________Configuring a Firewall? Try my iptables configurationLinuxCommando.com is my blog for linux-related scraps and tidbits. Stop by for a visit!